1) Beginning Meditation (5-8 minutes):
Guided, bringing minds into the present, settling into our bodies, finding the breath
and following it, returning to the breath when the mind wanders, short/long
breath, entire breath body; breathing/knowing.
2) Brief Review of Last Week's Talk -
Contemplation of Feelings
3) Questions/Discussion from Last Week
4) Contemplation of Feelings - cont'd
a) Review of the Emergence of Feeling and Craving Chart
b) The
Flayed Cow Simile (Puttamansa Sutta - SN XII.63)
i)
"And how is the nutriment of
contact to be regarded? Suppose a flayed cow were to stand leaning against a
wall. The creatures living in the wall would chew on it. If it were to stand
leaning against a tree, the creatures living in the tree would chew on it. If
it were to stand exposed to water, the creatures living in the water would chew
on it. If it were to stand exposed to the air, the creatures living in the air
would chew on it. For wherever the flayed cow were to stand exposed, the
creatures living there would chew on it. In the same say, I tell you, is the
nutriment of contact to be regarded. When the nutriment of contact is comprehended,
the three feelings [pleasure, pain, neither pleasure nor pain] are
comprehended. When the three feelings are comprehended, I tell you, there is
nothing further for a disciple of the noble ones to do."
c) Just
so, the body and mind are constantly experiencing Contact and Feelings - which
are automatic (you can't help experiencing them).But you do have some
control about how you respond to Feelings.
i)
Effect of perceptual overlays --
remember: "Perception mediates the Feeling"
ii) Exercise:
Every time an unpleasant feeling arises, look back to see if it came directly
from the experience or from a perceptual overlay of the experience. Was there some mental interpretation or
"story" involved? Or was the
reaction based solely on the feeling itself?
Try this with pleasant feelings, too.
iii) Purpose:
TO SEE THE MIND'S REACTIVITY TO FEELINGS
d) "Guarding
the Sense Doors" --
i)
At the point of Contact,
we are aware of the moment of contact, observing it with bare attention and
with equanimity, which does not give the feelings which are naturally
associated with that contact an opportunity to distract the mind from its
mindfulness.
ii) At
the point of Feelings, we become aware of the pleasant,
unpleasant and neutral feelings as soon as they manifest and before the mind
has an opportunity to become identified with them as THIS IS MY FEELING or I AM
THIS FEELING or THIS FEELING IS HAPPENING TO ME -- and reacting by grasping
(pleasant) or pushing away (unpleasant) or becoming indifferent (neutral).
iii) There
is no ONE experiencing the pain or the bliss, both are selfless processes. The Feeling is the feeler.
5) Questions
6) Meditation
Practice - 30 minutes [but don't disclose the length of time]
7) Questions
8) Homework
a) Sitting Meditation - daily for
longer periods (afterwards, note your experiences in your journal)
b) Read the Sutra (through
The Contemplation of Feelings) and Sutra Notes
c) Read Four Foundations of Mindfulness
by U Silananda (through Contemplation of Feelings)
d) Practice Exercises (below)
a) Mindfulness of Feelings by
Matthew Flickstein
b) More Practice Exercises for Mindfulness of Feelings
10) Closing Meditation